Italjet has always been an outlier in the scooter world and has never been one to conform to the pedestrian styling of scooters, going all out crazy when it comes to the styling of its models. The Dragster, for example, is a wild scooter with exposed tubing and head-turning looks. It goes without saying that its design is outlandish and excessive, but it doesn’t even begin to hold a candle to the brand’s newest release, the Dragster 559 Twin.
At EICMA 2022, Italjet first made known to the world its intention of releasing a powerful, performance-oriented scooter in the form of the Dragster 500GP. This time around at EICMA 2023, the scooter is now a reality and takes the form of the Dragster 559 Twin. From a performance perspective, it’s the most powerful model in Italjet’s lineup, with the company touting it as a model that blurs the lines between a scooter or a superbike – well, not really. With 58 horsepower on tap, it’s by no means near superbike territory, but it sure is much more powerful than most scooters out there.
Speaking of which, the new Dragster 559 Twin is powered by a new engine, a liquid-cooled, fuel-injected, twin-cylinder motor with a peak power output of 58.3 horsepower and 55 newton-meters (38.5 pound-feet) of torque. That being said, for the European market, it’ll also be sold in an A2 restricted version detuned to 48 horsepower, allowing younger riders with the money to burn to swing a leg over this machine.
Even more interestingly, the new Italjet Dragster 559 Twin doesn’t get a boring old CVT like other scooters, or the regular Dragster for that matter. It doesn’t even get a DCT, instead opting for a good old manual six-speed transmission, undoubtedly a rarity in the scooter world.The scooter is underpinned by a beefy, 48-millimeter inverted front fork and a MotoGP-inspired rear monoshock. Of course, it boasts exposed frame tubing, angular bodywork, and a fascia that will have you looking twice when you see this thing in your rearview mirror. It rolls on Pirelli Diablo Rosso tires and even gets dual Brembo brakes up front.
